Lighted pushbutton electrical switch assemblies may be constructed so that a single bulb is lit when the pushbutton is actuated, thereby indicating that the switch is on. Alternatively, lighted pushbutton switch assemblies are used in which one bulb is lit so as to display one color when the switch is in its one position and another bulb is lit so as to display a different color when the switch is in its other position. In the past, if a user wished to utilize both types of lighted pushbutton switches in a single piece of equipment, he generally would have to buy two different types of assemblies.
There have been some specialized prior pushbutton switch assemblies which allowed for the removal of one of the two bulbs in the switch assembly when a single light was desired. In this type of switch assembly, however, the lights were positioned at opposite corners in the two light version; and when one of the bulbs was removed, poor lighting resulted, with the light intensity varying significantly from one side of the lens to the other. Another type of prior pushbutton switch assembly utilized both of the bulbs for both applications so that when the switch assembly was dark, both bulbs would be off; but when the switch was on, two bulbs instead of one would be lit when a single light would have been adequate. It is, therefore, the object of the present invention to provide a lighted pushbutton electrical switch assembly which allows the customer the option of using either one or two lights in the same basic relatively low cost switching unit which has uniform lighting intensity and which does not require the use of any unnecessary bulbs for either application of the switch assembly.